


twinkle, twinkle little star

by onceuponanevilangel



Category: Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Aunt-Niece Relationship, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Pre-Canon, arguable stretching of mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 06:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceuponanevilangel/pseuds/onceuponanevilangel
Summary: “There’s an old story that was told long before we came to this island,” Antiope said. “It said that the shooting stars were the souls of heroes who could not be contained by constellations alone. The gods gave them the power to fly across the sky so that the world could be reminded of them.”





	twinkle, twinkle little star

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has taken so many turns and it has taken me way longer than a fic of this length really should, so truthfully I am so glad to have it done with. Un-betaed and written primarily after 1 in the morning, so I apologize for any mistakes. Feedback is very much appreciated!

“Mother, is it true that there are heroes in the sky?”

“Let me guess who told you that,” Hippolyta replied with a hint of laughter in her voice.

“Antiope did,” Diana said. She sat up in bed and pointed across the room to the night sky that was visible through her window. “She said that when it gets dark you can see the old heroes like Per…Percy…”

“Perseus?” Hippolyta asked as she sat down on the edge of Diana’s bed and smoothed the edge of the blankets.

“Yes, him,” Diana said. “Antiope says he fights monsters in the stars and there are more like him and sometimes on clear nights she’ll lay on the beach and watch them for hours and – .”

“That may be true,” Hippolyta interjected. “But I think we should leave the night to the heroes, don’t you? I think for us, the night should be for sleeping.”

“But _Mother_ ,” Diana started.

“Diana, it is late,” Hippolyta said gently yet firmly. “It’s time to go to sleep.” She lifted the blankets and Diana huffed, but laid down and let herself be covered. Hippolyta stood up and leaned down to kiss Diana’s forehead.

“Goodnight, my love.”

“Goodnight, Mother,” Diana replied.

She rolled over, closed her eyes, and feigned sleep, listening closely until she heard her mother’s footsteps leave her room and fade down the hallway. Even after that, she waited a few extra minutes that felt like an eternity before she finally dared to sit up. The blankets slipped silently off of her and she was careful to keep quiet as she crawled out of bed.

There was a cool breeze in the air and Diana almost thought about taking one of her cloaks, but she decided that it would take too long. She didn’t have long and she didn’t want to miss her chance.

She grabbed her sandals from underneath her bed, but she didn’t put them on just yet. Instead, she padded on bare feet out of her room and glanced down the hallway in the direction of her mother’s room before hurrying in the opposite direction.

There weren’t very many guards, especially at this time of night – there was no need for them, Hippolyta told her – and Diana made it of the castle with ease. Once she was safely outside, she stopped to put on her sandals and raced down to the beach as fast as she could. She stuck to the edges of the path, running in the shadows just in case anyone happened by.

She made it almost all the way to the beach, but at the last moment, her foot caught on a rock and she went tumbling forward. She stretched her arms out in front of her and squeezed her eyes shut, but just before she hit the ground, she felt a pair of hands catch her and when she looked up, she found Antiope studying her.

“Diana?”

“Antiope,” Diana said with a nervous smile. “Fancy meeting you out here.”

“Does your mother know where you are?” Antiope asked.

Diana’s smile faltered and Antiope fixed her with a no-nonsense look not unlike Hippolyta’s. “What are you doing here at this time of night?”

“I just wanted to see the heroes in the stars like you told me.”

Antiope sighed and kneeled down so that she could look Diana in the eyes. “It’s not good for you to be sneaking around at this time of night.”

Diana looked down and kicked at the sand at her feet. “Will you tell Mother?”

Antiope closed her eyes and muttered a soft prayer to the gods under her breath before gently touching her niece’s cheek to get Diana to look at her. “I will make a deal with you,” she said. “If I show you the heroes tonight, you have to promise me that you will not sneak out like this again.”

“And you won’t tell Mother?” Diana asked.

“I promise,” Antiope said, pressing her right fist against her breast the same way she did when she made a promise to one of her warriors. Diana’s lips twitched and Antiope’s expression softened.

“Then I promise too,” Diana said. “Can I see the heroes now?”

Antiope laughed as she stood up and swung Diana up on her hip. “Of course you can.”

There was a blanket already laid out on the sand a little ways down the beach and Antiope made her way over to it, setting Diana on the blanket before joining her. She laid back on the blanket, crossing her arms behind her head and stared up at the stars. Diana copied Antiope’s position and looked up at the sky, but nothing was happening.

“When do they come out?” she asked finally.

Antiope laughed. “They are out,” she said. “Look.” She pointed up at a group of stars clustered together. “Do you see that?” Diana nodded. “That’s the constellation Perseus. He was a Greek hero and a son of Zeus who slayed the gorgon Medusa. And there’s Orion, the hunter. And there’s Heracles.”

“They’re just stars,” Diana said dejectedly.

“Yes, but they are so much more than that,” Antiope replied. “These heroes were the bravest and most noble warriors, and so when they died, the gods sent them to live among the stars to remind the world of their legacies.”

Diana accepted that answer and kept her eyes fixed on the stars above her, but after a few minutes, she started to grow restless and it didn’t take Antiope long to notice.

“This is not entertaining enough for you?” she asked without looking at Diana even though her playful tone gave away her smile.

“It is,” Diana insisted. “I just thought there would be more.”

 Antiope extended one arm as a cool swept along the beach and Diana gratefully snuggled closer to her aunt.

“Then you’re in luck,” Antiope said. “Look.” She pointed at the sky with her free hand and Diana looked back up just in time to see a flash of light streak across the sky.

“What was that?”

“That’s a shooting star,” Antiope said. “Although I cannot condone you sneaking out of bed at night, you chose a good night to do it.”

“Why do they shoot?” Diana asked.

“There’s an old story that was told long before we came to this island,” Antiope said. “It said that the shooting stars were the souls of heroes who could not be contained by constellations alone. The gods gave them the power to fly across the sky so that the world could be reminded of them.”

As she spoke, the sky seemed to come to life. One more shooting star flashed, and then another and another and before she knew it, there were streaks of bright light flying like arrows through the sky.

Diana was completely enraptured. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open as she watched the show in silence. It seemed like only a few moments had passed before the bright streaks slowed and finally stopped and Antiope was getting to her feet.

“Is that it?” Diana asked.

“Until tomorrow,” Antiope said. “And perhaps the night after that. It usually takes two or three nights to pass and then they will be back in the summertime.”

“Can I see them again? They’re beautiful!”

“Diana,” Antiope said, looking down with a warning edge in her voice.

“I know,” Diana sighed, as she got to her feet.

Antiope picked up the blanket, shook it out, and folded it to throw it over her arm before leaning down to pick up Diana again.

“Let’s get you back to the palace before your mother has both of our heads,” she said as she started walking back along the beach towards the path to the palace.

“Antiope, could the gods put Amazons in the stars too?” Diana asked as she hugged her aunt’s neck a little tighter.

“What?”

“If an Amazon died do you think the gods would put her in the stars too like the heroes of men?”

Antiope kept walking, but she paused before she answered.

“I am not sure,” she said finally. “I pray that we will never be in a position to find out.”

“I think they would,” Diana said, oblivious to the darker tone in Antiope’s voice. “I think the gods would know that the Amazons are the bravest and noblest of all the heroes and they should be remembered in the stars too.”

Antiope chuckled. “That we can agree on.”

As Antiope carried her the rest of the way back to the palace, Diana was silent, her eyes turned skyward as the occasional nameless hero streaked across the stars.

* * *

 

There was no graveyard on Themyscira.

There had never been a need for one before, but after the battle on the beach, there were so many dead. There were so many downcast eyes and fallen tears that Diana had entirely lost count. The entire island was in mourning.

After the man was taken to the caverns, the Senate held a brief meeting to decide that the bodies of the fallen warriors would be burned on the beach in a ceremony that evening.

It took less time than Diana thought it would. For so many to have given so much, she expected that there were not enough words in any language to pay them the respect they deserved, but within a matter of hours, it was all over. Antiope and the others were really truly gone.

Hippolyta spent much of the evening withdrawn which made it all the easier for Diana to meet with the man – Steve, she reminded herself. Steve Trevor. – and make up her mind.

Antiope would not have hesitated and after feeling the sting of loss, Diana didn’t want any innocent people to have to feel it.

That night, long after Steve had fallen asleep, Diana found herself staring up at the stars. The rocking motion of the boat on the water was soothing and the combination of the cool breeze and the slightly-scratchy blanket beneath her made it feel like if she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself back on the beach a lifetime ago.

But the beach was gone.

The beach and the palace and Antiope, all of them were gone for good and Diana could never get them back.

The diadem in her satchel reminded her that she could only go forward, that she had to try to live up to the legacy of the bravest and noblest of all the Amazons.

Steve stirred next to her and Diana opened her eyes to see stars scattered above her. She could still pick out the constellations Antiope had spent countless nights teaching her. There was Perseus who defeated the gorgon Medusa and there was Orion the hunter, and there was Heracles whom her mother had told her some rather interesting stories about.

But suddenly, before Diana could find any others, a streak of light flashed across the sky, illuminating the boat for one brilliant instance.

Diana held her breath and sure enough, there was another shooting star, and then another, and then whole sky seemed to come to life with beautiful flares flying like arrows across the heavens.

It lasted only a moment before stopping just as quickly as it had started. The sky grew still again and Diana sighed. She started to roll over to go to sleep, but something stopped her.

A lone shooting star arced its way across the sky, its tail gleaming brighter than any of the stars before it. Unlike the others, though, this one didn’t immediately burn out. It settled into a dark patch of sky between Perseus and Orion and there it stayed, gleaming brighter than any other star around it.

Diana felt tears rolling down her cheek and as she settled in to sleep, she found herself reaching into her satchel, her thumb finding its way to the star in the very center of Antiope’s diadem.


End file.
